


The Dragon Sleeps Tonight

by nightmares06



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Animal Dean, Animal Transformation, Crack, Creature Dean, Dane (dragon oc) - Freeform, Destiel - Freeform, Dragon Dean, Dragons, Fluff and Humor, Gen, M/M, Tiny!Sam, Weirdness, cricket (dragon oc) - Freeform, dragon - Freeform, giant dragon dean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2018-12-13 16:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11764143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightmares06/pseuds/nightmares06
Summary: This story was requested to be 1200 words, with the BA bros running into dragon Dean with shenanigans ensuing!The Brothers Apart Sam and Dean are nightmares06‘s, dragon Dean belongs to wolfie180g, and the original Sam and Dean Winchester belong to the CW/Erick Kripke!Word Count:1200Warnings:NoneFor more dragon Dean:Dragon!DeanFor more BA bros:Brothers Apart 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dragon!Dean is still scared of heights](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4211184) by [wolfie180g](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfie180g/pseuds/wolfie180g). 



> This story was requested to be 1200 words, with the BA bros running into dragon Dean with shenanigans ensuing!
> 
> The Brothers Apart Sam and Dean are nightmares06‘s, dragon Dean belongs to wolfie180g, and the original Sam and Dean Winchester belong to the CW/Erick Kripke!
> 
>  **Word Count:**  1200
> 
>  **Warnings:**  None
> 
> For more dragon Dean: [Dragon!Dean](http://archiveofourown.org/series/605029)
> 
> For more BA bros: [Brothers Apart 1](http://archiveofourown.org/series/167201)

The peaceful night air rippled with a breeze, bringing with it the faint hoots of an owl. In the distance, a wolf howled as the pack closed in on an injured buck, looking for a way to feed the newborn pups. Leaves wafted in the air, then the breeze changed direction as a huge breath was sucked in.  
  
Dean slept in the forest, his tail twitching in his sleep. The large dragon, over 50 feet of muscle, claws and horns, lay curled in a clearing, one just large enough to keep him hidden from distant viewers. Perhaps if a helicopter was to fly overhead they might spot the tan and freckled form, but the trees were tall and large with full branches to keep him camouflaged.  
  
In his sleep, something pulled at Dean. A lack of a certain scent in the air.  
  
The dragon’s nostrils twitched, searching for the scent of his mate. Dane lay asleep in his mind, leaving Dean alone as he blinked open large green eyes in search of Castiel.  
  
‘Cas?’ he chirped sleepily, having grown used to the small human understanding him when he talked.  
  
A dark figure at the edge of the clearing froze as the dragon lifted up his large head, eyes hardening as he caught the burning tang of silver in the air.  
  
Dean’s lip curled, his tongue briefly flicking out in a draconic reaction. He was adjusting to the darkness of the night, features of this stranger as he came into view.  
  
Dark, dirty blond hair. A leather jacket that smelled of gunpowder and aftershave, glowing like a beacon in the scents of the forest. Worn jeans and a silver knife clutched in a hand. The man stood his ground as the dragon looked him over, both assessing the new threat.  
  
Something twisted in Dean’s chest, and he let out a rumbling grown. ‘Sam?’ he called out, his head moving to the side to look for his companions campsite and fire.  
  
While he was distracted, this new man struck. Lunging forward, he went for one of Dean’s claws, the knife burning into the dragon’s hide before he could twitch it away.  
  
Dean roared in pain. Distantly, the sound of wolves cut out. Branches rustled at the nearby birds flew off. The animals knew to keep their distance when a Drauglin, protector of the forest, was injured.  
  
The temptation to bite down and end the threat there and then nearly came upon Dean, but he held himself back, hauling to his feet and yanking his claw back to free it from the knife.  
  
The man cussed as he was dragged along for a few feet, then fell to his knees as Dean freed himself.  
  
Before he could recover, Dean thrust his head forward. He snapped at the air, making the man fall backwards in an attempt to dodge the implied threat, not knowing Dean had no interest in making a meal of him.  
  
That was when Dean caught the scent of a  _second_  human, just faintly there under the thick, cloying smell of this man, this  _hunter_.  
  
‘Sam?’ he called out hopefully, searching for his brother.  
  
The second he moved farther away from the stranger, the fainter the smell grew, until it was gone. He swung his head back towards the stranger. It grew more powerful again.  
  
This man had messed with his brother!  
  
Dean’s eyes dilated, and he hissed. ‘What did you do to Sam?’ he chirp-growled. ‘Did you touch Cas?!’  
  
The man’s own eyes were wide, glancing between Dean and his two large clawed hands on either side of him. Like a cornered animal.  
  
His silhouette still nagged at Dean, like he should recognize it, but he was far more concerned with the faint voice he could hear, calling out.  
  
“Dean, keep back!”  
  
The Drauglin instantly backed off, looking around for Sam. ‘Sammy?’ he called out hopefully. ‘Who is this asshat? Where’s Cas?’  
  
There was no reaction to his call, and the small voice continued on, just barely picked up by Dean’s ears.  
  
“Dean, I think it’s trying to talk. Those chirps…”  
  
The human growled in annoyance. “Seriously, Sam? You think a  _dragon_ wants to talk to us.”  
  
“If it wanted to attack, do you think we’d still be standing here?”  
  
In horror, Dean looked down at the man,  _really_  looked at him.  
  
A spike of messy hair. A familiar duffel bag on his shoulders. A younger face than Dean had seen in the mirror,  _years_  before he was turned into a Drauglin by Cricket.  
  
‘Dean?’ he chirped, his own name coming out mangled in the dragon’s tongue.  
  
The human didn’t react, and Dean changed tactics, signing out the letters for his own name.  
  
“See? That’s sign language! It’s gotta be!”  
  
The voice that Dean just  _knew_  was his little brother’s continued, and as he signed out  **SAM** , he inched forward, sniffing at the younger Dean. That smell of Sam was stronger, and the dragon drew close, younger Dean stepping nervously back, Dean happened to catch sight of something  _tiny_  moving on that young Dean’s shoulder.  
  
‘ _Sammy?!_ ’ he squawk-chirped, jerking in surprise as he realized that there was a  _person_  on this man’s shoulder.  
  
In his startled motion, Dean accidentally knocked into his younger self, sending him sprawling across Dean’s large snout. The man shouted, trying to scramble off as Dean raised up his head in surprise.  
  
Leaving the two Dean’s, separated by ten years and a transformation into a dragon, staring at each other in slack-jawed amazement.  
  
The only one who seemed to be unaffected by this, aside from clinging to the human Dean’s collar, was the absolutely  _tiny_  version of Sam on his shoulder.  
  
“Dean, do you see that?” he called out excitedly. With them so close, the dragon version of Dean could actually see the fluff of brown hair and youthful face. It  _was_  Sam, just like the man trying to find a hold on his smooth snout that did  _not_  involve the edge of Dean’s mouth, only younger. His own Sam was worn by years of hunting and months of trying to get Dean back to himself. “Those eyes! That’s not a wild animal!”  
  
Dean stifled the temptation to shake these two strange men from his nose, merely blinking at them in confusion and inhaling deeply, filling his mouth with the strangely familiar smell of himself and a Sam who barely seemed real. He shouldn’t exist.

Any more than a dragon should exist.  
  
The suction against his legs made the human Dean try and scramble on better. “Yeah, well  _you’re_  not the one that he’s sniffing up for dinner!”  
  
Dean was offended at the assumption he would eat them. For one thing, he’d never eat a human. For another, this Dean overestimated the meat on his bone. Dean lowered his head to the ground, tilting it until human Dean could slide off, stumbling a few steps away. His silver knife was slack in his grip, and the dragon used his snout to steady the stranger, keeping an eye on the tiny young Sam sitting on his shoulder.  
  
He had so many questions, but neither of them had reacted to their names being spelled. He needed his Sam.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A second part to The Dragon Sleeps Tonight was requested, for the same 1200 words and bringing in dragon Dean’s Sam along with Castiel, shenanigans ensue.
> 
> The Brothers Apart Sam and Dean are @nightmares06‘s, dragon Dean belongs to wolfie180g, and the original Sam and Dean Winchester belong to the CW/Erick Kripke!
> 
>  **Word Count:**  1600
> 
>  **Warnings:**  None

“How the hell do you misplace a fifty-foot  _dragon?!_ ”  
  
Stalking angrily through the woods, trying to  _not_  think about them being lost, it wasn’t until Sam heard a gravelly “Sam…” from behind that he realized he’d spoken his thoughts out loud.  
  
Whirling around, a keen blue-eyed gaze met his frustrated hazels. “Dean will be fine,” Cas said steadily. “He can handle himself alone for an hour. If there was anyone suspicious in the forest, Bobby and Balth would call us.”  
  
Sam took a deep breath. Exhaled. “Dream team, those two,” he muttered, but couldn’t hide a slight smirk. “I just…  _hate_  leaving him alone so long.”  
  
“He won’t even know we were gone,” Cas assured, resuming his walk and pushing past Sam to take the lead. “If anyone can handle himself, it’s the full-grown dragon.”  
  
Sam huffed, shifting the bags full of meat in his arms and following behind.  
  
“Besides,” Cas continued, “we’ll all feel better when Dean’s been fed without alerting everyone in the forest that there’s a hungry dragon about.”  


* * *

  
A large growl crackled through the air and for a second time in as many minutes, Sam found himself clinging to Dean’s collar in an attempt to keep his seat and not be spilled into the ground during a confrontation between a giant and a titan.  
  
The older hunter jolted at the sound, falling into a crouch and at the ready in a clear ‘fight or flight’ response.  
  
The dragon looked equally surprised by the sound, only instead of acting defensive, he looked down at his stomach, then back at the Winchesters.   
  
Maybe it was something about the expression on the dragon’s face. A face that was far larger than Sam’s older brother, titanic and only comprehensible because of the distance between them. An expression on that massive face that mirrored Dean on the rare occasion that Sam managed to embarrass him.  
  
Or maybe it was the way Dean was as stiff as a board, a cat bristled and ready to bolt.  
  
Sam burst out laughing, the entire situation just crashing down on him as _ridiculous_. A dragon more embarrassed about the sound its stomach made than the fact that it could eat them _both_. Hell, it wouldn't even notice Sam if it ate him. He was too small.  
  
Two matching sets of green eyes, one pair the size of Sam’s head and the other pair bigger than his entire body, both turned towards Dean’s shoulder, the tension in the air marginally reduced by confusion.  
  
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Dean growled, but Sam’s snickers didn’t stop.  
  
“You… should see your… faces!” Sam gasped between peals of laughter. “He sounds… just like you... when you're staring at pie!”  
  
If Sam could have made out Dean’s expression, he would have seen offence painted over gruff features. “You mean it’s hungry?!”  
  
Sam slapped Dean’s neck before he could go for his gun in the hopes of calming him, and the dragon hop-skipped a step back with one leg in the air frantically cutting a negative, shaking his head at the same time to reinforce that fact. A few barked out chirps and several quick hand motions passed before he remembered they couldn’t understand sign language.  
  
Leaning forward, the dragon took a claw and hastily scratched out a word in the bare ground he’d been laying in previously.  
  
**NO**.  
  
“No?” Dean repeated. “No, he’s not gonna eat us or no he’s not hungry?”  
  
“Does it matter?” Sam asked in aggravation, the dragon nodding emphatically along with his light voice.  
  
Rubbing the word out with a curled fist, the dragon swiftly replaced it with a second, then pointed a claw at Dean’s chest.  
  
**DEAN?**  
  
“How’d he…” Dean trailed off as the dragon immediately started scratching out a second word next to the first, then pointed at Dean’s shoulder.  
  
**SAMMY?**  
  
Dean could only nod, fascination replacing the wary fear in his expression as the dragon started working again at the ground. It circled Dean’s name, jabbing it with a claw, then pointed at itself.  
  
“No,  _your_  name’s not Dean, that’s  _my_  name--"  
  
Dean’s attempt to educate the dragon on the meaning of names was cut off by echoes of a familiar voice calling “Dean?”  
  
“What?!” Dean snapped, the dragon echoing him in a series of chirps as it looked to the edge of the clearing.  
  
Two men, having arrived only seconds before, stood there in shock staring at the three in the clearing. One was wearing a flannel shirt a lot like the majority of Dean’s wardrobe, the other in a comfortable fitting trenchcoat, both with arms full of bags. Their eyes were widest when they saw Dean-- the  _human_  Dean-- staring back.  
  
Then the taller of the two dropped the bags his arms were filled with, pre-packaged meat spilling out into the forest floor as he pulled a gun on them.  
  
“Who the hell are you?!” he shouted as he advanced, his stance unwavering and expression harsh.  
  
Sam slapped his hands over his ears at the  _loud_  voice, not expecting it. Dean had his hands up, the silver knife loose in a fist. The dragon made that cutting motion again, much like when Dean thought it wanted to eat them, a series of chirps flowing from its mouth as it tried explaining things in its own language. Its wings rustled in agitation.  
  
“Whoa! No one’s getting hurt here!” Dean said, also speaking louder than Sam was comfortable with as he tried to talk down the taller man. “We were just talking, that’s all!”  
  
The man still standing at the edge of the clearing has his head cocked as though he was listening to a voice, then called out “Sam! Stop!”  
  
The smaller Sam sitting on his older brother’s shoulder looked up, blinking as the guy called his name. Before he could respond, the tallest human there looked over his shoulder.  
  
“He says he wasn’t hurting him,” the blue-eyed man said firmly. “Let’s hear them out.”  
  
The dragon chirped, then pointed again at Dean’s shoulder, where Sam still cringed back from all the noise. A flow of nonsensical sounds proceeded, finished off with a tone of finality.  
  
A tingle of new eyes on him burst across Sam’s neck, and he looked up to find everyone’s eyes on him except for his Dean (who continued to keep his hands in the air, unwilling to risk a fight with Sam so close and vulnerable).  
  
“That’s not possible,” the tall man gasped at the same time as Dean exclaimed “You can understand him?!”  
  
The tall man held up his hands, then made a show of disarming his gun and tucking it away. “Okay, let’s talk. Dean says you didn’t hurt him after you realized he was intelligent.”  
  
Dean blinked. “What…?” He looked at the tall man, then frowned. “ _Sammy?_ ”  
  
The dragon chirped an affirmative, then jabbed his thumb at himself.  
  
“So that’s Dean!” Sam exclaimed excitedly from Dean’s shoulder, having recovered from the noise. The dragon nodded, adding several more chirps.  
  
“And I’m Cas,” said the last man in the clearing, stepping forward next to Sam. “I assume this is what you both looked like a few years ago?”  
  
The human-sized Sam frowned, looking at his tiny counterpart. “I was a little taller back then…” he said hesitantly. “But Dean is spot on.”  
  
“Dude, you’re  _ancient,_ ” Dean declared, and the dragon chuffed out a laugh, his jaw dropping in a draconic grin.  
  
The older Sam glared. “It’s not  _my_  fault you’re barely out of diapers!” he snapped instinctively before reigning himself in. “Okay. Look. We clearly need to talk.  _Right?_ ” He looked at everyone for confirmation, his eyes pausing on his tiny counterpart longer than the others. “Let’s figure this out, because something  _clearly_  went wrong  _somewhere._ ”  
  
He gestured to the ground near his draconic older brother, then pointed at that Dean warningly. “Not  _another_  word about my age,  _grandpa_.”  
  
Even the other Sam and Dean could hear the faked innocence in the next few chirps.  
  
“Oh, he’s definitely you,” Sam sniggered into Dean’s ear, where no one else could hear him.  


* * *

  
“And so you’ve been fighting together like this… for two years?” the older Sam repeated, gesturing at his tiny counterpart.  
  
Sam nodded. It was getting easier to talk to himself after they both shared their stories. “It’s not as bad as you’d think,” he said confidently. “Though I have to say, I wasn’t ready for a  _dragon._ ”  
  
“ _Drauglin,_ ” Cas corrected, reinforced by a chirp from Dean. The dragon had snacked on the food brought to him by his mate and brother, calming the rumbling stomach. “Regular dragons are petty thieves. Drauglin are protectors of nature.”  
  
“I know a few sprites you might want to meet,” Dean snickered, imagining Bowman’s reaction to the new trio. Or the association dragons had with fire.  
  
“Right…” the older Sam said. “Look. Maybe we can help you out. If Dean can follow your trail, we should be able to figure out how you got here.”  
  
“Trail?” Dean repeated in offence. “I’ll have you know I’m an  _expert_  tracker, I don’t leave a--"  
  
The dragon chirped slyly, and Cas dutifully translated, “Your aftershave is so potent he can smell you from twenty feet away,” sending the smaller Sam into stitches of laughter.  
  
“It’s so true!” Sam gasped out, rocking back against Dean’s neck.  
  
Dean poked at him in annoyance, frowning. “It is  _not,_ ” he complained at the dragon and Sam both.  
  
“Either way,” the older Sam said in an attempt to keep them on track, unable to hide a smirk of his own. “Dean can backtrack your trail.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A third part to The Dragon Sleeps Tonight was requested, and this time we've got some Sam on Sam action! (Kidding-- they're just talking)
> 
> The Brothers Apart Sam and Dean are mine, dragon Dean belongs to wolfie180g, and the original Sam and Dean Winchester belong to the CW/Erick Kripke!
> 
>  **Word Count:**  2500
> 
>  **Warnings:**  None
> 
> For more dragon Dean: 
> 
> [Dragon!Dean is still scared of heights!](http://archiveofourown.org/series/605029)
> 
> For more BA bros: 
> 
> [Brothers Apart](http://archiveofourown.org/series/167201)

The time on the trail together gave Sam plenty of time to think.  
  
He couldn't quite stop glancing at the strange pair of Winchesters they'd found. It was hard to argue that they  _weren't_  the same guys. Dean's spike of dark-blond hair and confident swagger stood out in all the people Sam had ever met, but then there was the other Sam...  
  
Not even the length of one of his fingers, and tucked against Dean's neck like it was normal.  
  
Drifting back from Dean and Castiel-- the large dragon leading the way as he sniffed out his human counterpart's trail-- Sam couldn't resist engaging his tiny self, fascination in every bit of him.  
  
When did one get the chance to talk to themselves from another universe?  
  
Though neither Dean seemed overly interested in chatting each other up currently, with the human one still glowering at everyone teasing him and the dragon smug at having the last word. Not to mention having proved he could backtrack Dean's trail without breaking a sweat.   
  
Their loss.  
  
"Hey," Sam said companionably as he leveled off next to where his smaller counterpart was sitting.  
  
The other Dean gave him the side-eye, determined that Sam wasn't talking to him and walked stubbornly on without a break in pace. As was his usual when he was busy mulling over something else (likely the fact that not ten paces ahead was a  _dragon_  version of himself he’d nearly tried to put a bullet through not long ago).  
  
Sam's counterpart looked up at him, making him feel suddenly very over-sized despite the giant dragon who had taken point, and broke out into a huge grin. Those tiny hazel twins of his eyes shone with an equal curiosity.  
  
"Hi!" the young kid called out brightly.  
  
Sam had a matching grin on his face. "Wow. Just  _wow,_ " he breathed. "Uh. I wanted to talk? Did you...?"  
  
Younger Sam looked between Dean and his counterpart, patting his older brother's neck and then nodding. No words were needed between them, just as Sam already knew what his older counterpart meant.  
  
Dean let out a huff, and stopped in place. Not once did Sam have trouble keeping balance on his shoulder, a skill Sam wished he had himself sometimes with  _his_  Dean. This kid made it look effortless to stay on a walking, moving person.   
  
Reverently, Sam held out his hand, marvelling at the fact that his downsized version was just barely the size of his pinky as the kid stepped carefully from Dean’s shoulder to Sam’s hand.  
  
“Whoa,” Sam whispered, and the kid nearly stumbled when his hand wavered slightly in midair. He steadied it, his second hand coming up for support, cupping around the first. “S-sorry about that… This is out of this world…”  
  
“You’re telling me,” his younger counterpart commented, his head tilted back to take in every detail. “Out of all the weird stuff we’ve had happen, I never expected  _this._ ” He waved at Sam, his gesture wide to try and encompass all of the hunter.  
  
“You two kids behave,” Dean groused from the side, already forgotten in their awe of each other.  
  
They glanced back at him, twin bitchfaces a perfect mirror despite their scale.  
  
“I’m  _older_  than you,” the taller reminded him, a smirk on his face.  
  
The dragon walking beyond them turned his neck to see what the big holdup was, and chirped his own addition to the argument. Cas turned as well, one hand against Dean’s forearm as he translated. “Age has nothing to do with being the little brother.”  
  
Dean chirped insistently, and Cas let out a put-upon sigh as he was compelled to finish the statement for all to hear. “Bitch.”  
  
The dragon stretched his legs, contentedly flexing each limb to show he was content with the amended translation.  
  
“Shall we continue?” Cas asked the rest. “We must see if we can return to our own world before we mess up the timeline.”  
  
The human Dean shrugged. “How much can you mess it up?” He jerked his head at Sam. “Unless I’m missin’ somethin’, he’s never been livin’ it up as a borrower, so there’s not much you can change  _more._ ”  
  
Sam looked him up and down, unable to deny the ache he felt at seeing his older brother-- whether he was Dean from years ago or not-- returned to his humanity. “Guess not. Might mean you have a chance to keep yourself human.”  
  
“It just means our worlds are different,” the smallest Sam piped in from his place on his counterpart’s hand. He’d sat out of the conversation until now, awed to see the dragon his brother had become from far enough back to appreciate his full size. “We can learn from each other.”  
  
Dean rolled his eyes with a scoff and stalked off towards the other two to catch up to Dean and Cas. “Just don’t forget we need to send them  _back!_ ” he grumped over his shoulder.  
  
“Is he always like that?” Sam asked the kid in his hand.  
  
“Is  _yours?_ ”  
  
Sam couldn’t hide a smirk at the comeback. It had been shot back at him without a wasted breath, exactly what he’d expect of himself. “Fair enough.” He lifted him up. “Shoulder?” he asked, genuinely curious. They might have a lot in common, but he had no idea what his preferred perch on a  _person_  would be.  
  
It didn’t exactly come up much.  
  
The younger Sam bobbed his head in agreement. “Shoulder’s best. Pockets are  _not_  a fun way to travel.” He wrinkled his nose in such a familiar expression, small-scale, that Sam couldn’t hide a laugh.  
  
“You got it, kid,” he said as he held up his hand.  
  
The sensation of tiny feet and tiny hands grabbing hold of his collar and hair for support made the hairs on the back of Sam’s neck rise up, goosebumps covering his arms. It was all made weirder to think that it was a tiny version of  _him_  there, moving the collar out of the way to carve a spot to sit next to his neck much like the kid had been sitting with Dean moments before.  
  
“You all set?” Sam asked when the movement tapered off, waiting to start walking for when he was certain he wasn’t going to shake the guy free with his first step.  
  
The next part that followed was just as startling. He might have seen the kid pat the alternate Dean’s neck for answer before but hadn’t expected that same motion to be used on  _him_  minutes later. Two tiny pats followed by a “You got it!” that sounded identical to his same statement seconds before this attempt. The main difference between their voices was his was deeper and reverberated more because of his size, while the smaller Sam’s was light and might drift away on an errant breeze.  
  
With the assurance between them, Sam set off at a quicker pace than before to catch up with the others. If it wasn’t for the size of his own brother, cutting a swath through the forest, he might have lost them completely because of his distraction. The dragon lead the way and they followed.  
  


* * *

  
Sam spent a moment getting settled again once his large counterpart took off in the direction of the others, working hard to avoid worrying him. He’d insisted he could do this, and he wasn’t about to admit the older man’s stride had caught him off-guard.  
  
It was nothing like Dean’s, short and cocky and full of swagger as he walked around. Even when he ran, it was lower to the ground and done with quick economy of movement, the few times Sam had clung to his collar during a chase.  
  
Sam’s was longer and more loping, making his shoulder bob more during each stride. Smaller Sam wondered if his own was like this. He’d never given much thought to it; at his size, he wasn’t about to have anyone riding his shoulder anytime soon. If he did, something had gone badly,  _badly_  wrong.  
  
“Holding up alright there, pint-size?”  
  
The voice jarred Sam from his thoughts, nearly making him lose his grip. The last thing he’d expected to hear from  _himself_  was that same nickname Dean had given him all the way back the first day they’d found each other. He blinked, gathering his thoughts.   
  
“I’m fine!” he called up, his voice raised instinctively as his--  _Sam’s_ \-- ear was higher up than Dean’s while they were talking.  
  
The older Sam nodded to himself, what Sam could see of his face thoughtful. “So you really lived most of your life like this? Without Dean?”  
  
There was a bit of sadness in his voice as he asked the question, and Sam remembered hearing that this Sam had lost his dragon brother nearly right at the start, kidnapped and tortured. He put a hand of consolation on Sam’s neck again, leaving it there to show his support this time.  
  
“It’s not like what you went through,” he reassured him. “Dean tried… he  _really_  tried… to save me back then, but dad dragged him out. And once I knew it was him, and more importantly,  _he_  knew it was  _me,_  he instantly did his best to fix what he could. Neither of us ever… dealt with what you did.”  
  
The taller Sam frowned. “You still lost your family for that long,” he said sternly. “It’s more than anyone should have to deal with.”  
  
Sam switched to patting his neck. “I’ve long come to terms with it. I had a family to help me through that time, and now that I’m back with Dean, he’s become a part of that family. It’s enough.”  
  
Up ahead, the dragon had stopped in his tracks, head down to the ground. As they cleared the last group of bushes, Sam felt some of the tension relax from his shoulders.  
  
Different universe or not, the Impala was home.  
  
Dean was sniffing at the doors, chirping a mile-a-minute at his counterpart with Castiel’s head on a swivel trying to keep up with translating before tossing his arms in the air to get him to  _slow down._  Dean’s human counterpart was leaning against the driver’s side door with a smug grin on his face.   
  
“Put her back together myself,” he said smugly in response to the last statement before the Sams arrived. “Some sprites blasted the front off a while back, and when I was working with her I installed the panic room for Sammy.”  
  
Sam came up to the side just in time for Dean to open the door wide to show off what he could. The dragon couldn’t quite get low enough to peer in, but Cas knelt down and let out an impressed whistle. Sam peeked over their heads, spotting a metal case built in directly under the driver’s seat.  
  
“It’s mine,” the smaller Sam explained when he saw his counterpart’s interest. “I don’t need Dean to get in and out of the Impala, and it’s a strong enough room that breaking in is either impossible or will take too much time. I can get out first.”  
  
Sam pursed his lips, equally impressed. “Inventive,” he admitted.  
  
This served to make Dean even more smug. He slammed the door closed and strolled slowly past the others to the trunk. “You’ve got it,” he said.   
  
Sam held up his hand to his shoulder, letting his tiny counterpart get into his hand. “So, you have a way to send us back to our world?” he asked curiously.  
  
“Believe it or not, we’ve dealt with this a few times before,” Sam piped up from his hand. “The only change in the spell we need is blood from one of you to tell it what universe to point the doorway at. The rest will take care of itself.”  
  
  
“That means, whatever you were doing when you were there, you better be ready for the second you step through,” Dean warned as he gathered up the supplies. “We can’t control that part here.”  
  
Sam nodded in understanding and let his small self onto the roof of the Impala to survey their preparations from a higher perch. With Dean moving about so quickly, it seemed an easier option.  
  
The smaller Sam immediately set off towards the trunk, hitching up his satchel. Dragon Dean watched, his green eyes carefully focused on the incredibly small person he was watching, still unable to believe that  _people_  could  _live_  at that size. His own brief excursion when shrunken had been quite enough, and nothing he wanted to repeat. Shrinking had taken away the natural body armor his body possessed, making his skin too thin to keep animal claws from dealing damage and even too weak to withstand his natural fire.  
  
Dean straightened, a book held in hand. “Everyone ready?” he asked gruffly.  
  
“Be ready to offer up your blood when Dean tells you!” Sam called from his spot on the Impala.  
  
“And stay close together,” Dean warned. “We’ve only tried this on one person at a time before.”  
  
The older Sam nodded. “Got it.” He pulled out his silver knife and held it at the ready.  
  
The words Dean spoke blended into each other as he incanted. Sam normally had a great memory for Latin, but there was something about this spell that made them slip right out of his mind as they were spoken. Maybe the way it focused right around him and the other two.  
  
Dean lowered his long, sinuous neck down, his shoulders hunched forward as he tried to stick as close to his brother and partner as he could. Castiel put a reassuring hand on his eye ridge.  
  
The air around them swirled into a twister, encompassing all three.  
  
“NOW!” Sam shouted from the Impala, and the other Sam wasted no time slicing his palm open.  
  
The air ripped around them into a reassuring green and blue aura and Sam felt the worry leave him. This was  _right._  
  
He gave one last wave to the strange Winchester pair they’d found, then leapt into the vortex, Cas and Dean close at his heel.  
  


* * *

  
The air swirled shut and the dust fell to the ground. Dean sighed, wiping his brow. “What are we, Grand Central Station?” he griped.   
  
Sam smiled as he looked at the deep furrows in the ground where the dragon version of his brother had stood. “I don’t know, they weren’t so bad,” he said. “Got to see  _me_  at the right size, after all.”  
  
Dean puffed up his chest. “I’d make a pretty badass dragon,” he said as he offered Sam a path to his shoulder with his hand.   
  
Sam rolled his eyes. “So long as no knights in shining armor try to rescue any princesses from you,” he said dryly.  
  
“Rescue from me? All the ladies  _love_  me!”  
  
**FIN**


End file.
